As this slide-show depicts, subsidies provided through ObamaCare for lower- and middle-class workers who receive health-care through the government-run exchanges would be much greater than the tax-breaks provided to lower- or middle-class workers who receive employer-provided health insurance. This would lead employers to drop these workers’ insurance and let them be covered through the exchanges, at taxpayer expense. Thus, ObamaCare is not only a new health-care system but a new welfare and tax system, which would lead to the segregation of the labor market: upper-income workers would continue to get insurance through their employers; lower- and middle-class workers would eventually get it through the government.

ObamaCare would impose higher implicit marginal tax-rates on lower- and middle-class workers than on millionaires, thereby penalizing work and providing a barrier to upward mobility. Under the Senate bill (which, along with the Reconciliation Act, became law) those making $14,560, who make another $560, would be $200 worse off than if they hadn’t made that extra money at all; those making $12,000 would pay implicit marginal tax-rates of 66 percent on the next $5,000 earned; and people who make between $30,000 and $100,000 would pay implicit marginal tax rates of over 50 percent. Disincentives for work would be coupled with rewards for dropping insurance, as those who drop insurance, picking it up again only when sick or injured, could save as much as $8,000 a year.

Under Obamacare, getting married would cause couples to lose large amounts in insurance exchange subsidies. Depending on their ages and incomes, married couples would lose up to three-quarters of their exchange subsidies and up $10,425 a year that would be available to couples who simply live together.

Through a variety of restrictions, requirements, prohibitions, and taxes, ObamaCare would — as if by design — seriously hinder, if not altogether kill, HSA plans — despite the promise they have shown as a tool for lowering health-care costs

The National Federation of Independent Business says that Obamacare’s taxes on small businesses would stifle employment, providing a strong incentive for businesses not to expand beyond 10 or 25 workers.

Obamacare would limit flexible spending accounts — which allow Americans greater control over their own health-care dollars and greater opportunity to shop for value — even though such plans have helped families to lower their health costs.